Talent identification and team selection: this is the goal for all coaches when running baseball tryouts.
Baseball tryouts are crucial for assessing athletes on skill level, attitude, and work ethic, and most importantly, a process that shouldn’t be rushed. By carefully selecting drills, choosing evaluators, and analyzing scores, team placement decisions will be made with precision and accuracy.
Here are 8 tips to guide you through a successful baseball tryout, guaranteeing that you assemble a well-rounded team for the upcoming season.
The three main objectives of baseball tryout drills are to:
1. Provide you with real-time feedback on a player’s athletic capacity
2. Evaluate an athlete’s overall suitability for the team
3. Identify which position on the team an athlete is best fitted for
How to choose the best baseball tryout drills?
Make a list of baseball skills that are most important to measure. I.e., Hitting, fielding, pitching, and base running.
Choose 3-4 drills under each skill. For example, when measuring pitching ability, a few baseball drills would be the three-minute drill, the T-alignment drill, and the push-off drill.
*In addition to skill-specific drills, make sure to score players on overall attitude, work ethic, and teamwork.
2. Choose unbiased evaluators
Parents, family friends, and former coaches are all examples of biased evaluators. With close ties to an athlete, they are likely to have a negative impact on final scores. I.e., Giving a higher score to a player because they are the athlete’s Uncle, even when it isn’t deserved.
In order to ensure fairness in evaluations and create a level playing field for all athletes, choose unbiased evaluators. Then, athletes will be assessed purely on their technique, character, and skill level, ensuring equal opportunity for all.
Tip: To streamline your baseball tryouts, designate one evaluator for each drill to ensure efficient flow. This allows evaluators to become proficient in the specific drill they are assessing.
3. Debrief evaluators
Later, once your evaluators are selected, hold a brief meeting before the baseball tryout starts. Evaluators should be educated on what they should be looking for at the drill station(s) they are assigned to. Therefore, take the time to explain the scoring system to evaluators.
For instance, a perfect score (10) for throwing accuracy includes when a player can throw a pitch at the desired target. A perfect score (10) for throwing mechanics includes when a player demonstrates a relaxed grip on the ball, starts in a hip-width stance, and ensures that their thigh and shin (on the stride leg) form a 90-degree angle during wind-up.
4. Double-check drill stations
Here is a short checklist you can cover to make sure baseball drill stations are ready to go:
Does each station have the necessary equipment? E.g., balls, bats, helmets, gloves, bases, cones, netting, pitching mound, first aid kit
Are the stations clearly numbered?
Is there a sufficient amount of space at each station for athletes to perform each drill?
Are there clear pathways, allowing for a smooth traffic flow between drills?
5. Explain drills
Run players through each baseball tryout drill right after a warm-up has been conducted. Include a brief explanation of each drill and explain what skills are being assessed at each drill station.
Note: Doing a comprehensive drill run-through at the beginning of tryouts won’t disrupt the flow of the timed stations. Players will spend the allotted amount of time at each station executing the drill.
6. Score athletes
As each station has a time limit to ensure baseball tryouts run smoothly, evaluators have the task of scoring players in a timely manner. This is where baseball evaluation software comes in. Say goodbye to printing out evaluation forms and handing them out to every evaluator at tryouts (with the risk of them not getting handed back in).
Additionally, with a baseball evaluation app, evaluators can score players on any skill by either: using a slider or manually entering an objective score (i.e., fastball speed time).
Score athletes right on your mobile device or tablet in the SkillShark app
7. Make timely drafting decisions
Players want to hear back within a reasonable time frame regarding the team selection process and what position they made. As a general rule of thumb, post results within 48-72 hours after tryouts.
However, in order to ensure you have made well-informed decisions, here are a couple of questions to ask:
Have you ranked players across each core category that was assessed (i.e., hitting, fielding, pitching, base running, character)?
Have you run weighted reports and/or comparison reports to analyze players on a more granular level?
Have you taken at least 24-48 hours to review all evaluation data, in order to avoid making impulsive decisions?
8. Provide athlete feedback
Although teams have already been selected and results have been posted, there is still one more step for baseball tryouts: athlete feedback.
With every team placement decision comes an influx of questions from athletes and their parents:
“Why didn’t I make the team?”
“What skills did I lack?”
“How can I better improve X skills?”
All of these sought-after questions, and more, can be answered through individual athlete reports. Moreover, using SkillShark, no extra steps are needed to create a report once scores are entered. All coaches have to do is navigate to the ‘Individual Reports’ tab on the app, select a player, and hit the send button. From there, a report is sent directly to the inbox of that athlete.
Athletes can see what skills they were evaluated on, their scores, and how they compare to the team average. Additionally, any comments or videos that were added by evaluators will be included in the report.
At the intersection of precision and performance evaluation, we are pleased to introduce our newest integration with Pocket Radar PLUS. Through this new integration, you will now be able to take velocity readings using the Pocket Radar Smart Coach Device, which will be immediately pulled into the SkillShark app.
Also, eliminate intricate formulas and calculations when it comes to measuring radar-related metrics. With Pocket Radar, track velocity on metrics such as: Change Up, Drop Ball, Fastball, and Rise Ball. Once velocity metrics are captured and imported into the SkillShark app, leverage this detailed data instantly to rank and compare players, bringing you closer to drafting top teams.
What you will need?
An iOS or Android Device running the SkillShark App
An iOS or Android running the Pocket Radar Sports App
A Subscription to SkillShark’s All-Star or Legend Plan
A Pocket Radar Smart Coach Device
A Pocket Radar PLUS Subscription
Pocket Radar Integration
Wrapping Up
What may seem like a laundry list of tasks to tackle before reaching your end goal, baseball tryouts are an exciting process filled with valuable lessons.
SkillShark offers a streamlined solution to save you countless hours typically spent on data entry and report creation. Our athlete evaluation app serves as an all-in-one tool to:
Score players on your mobile devices
Analyze athlete data from pre-generated reports
Draft teams
Provide athlete feedback
Stay connected with athletes & parents
Discover how much you can save with SkillShark
How many athletes do you have at a tryout/camp/event?
Explore how SkillShark has transformed careers and organizations through real-life success stories. Join our community and streamline your baseball evaluations today.
The program is very clean, looks professional, and parents & students really enjoy the digital reports. The team at SkillShark is always a phone call away and eager to help set up your program on answer any questions!
Tyler Stahl
Notre Dame Academy
SkillShark has made tryouts for our baseball club so much easier. It is user friendly and the customer service has been TOP NOTCH!!
Jill Blake Sutherland
Head Baseball Coach
SkillShark is a fresh and simple way to do the evaluations that clubs already do, just better. By taking away administrative tasks, more time can be spent developing successful athletes and winning teams. My experience with SkillShark shows it to be a valuable method, and one that is sure to become the status quo.
Chris Shewfelt
Vice President, Toronto FC & Toronto Argonauts
SkillShark is an essential tool for all youth sport organizations to take advantage of. As coaches, it is our job to provide both reinforcing and constructive comments to young athletes. SkillShark has helped immensely with our player development and provides a superior solution to our program.
Bill Edwards
Hofstra Head Coach
Ontario’s Canada Games program has athletes all over the province. Providing them feedback about their performance is our biggest challenge. SkillShark software makes it easy for our coaching staff and guest coaches to record data and share it instantly with athletes. It is a great tool for teams and organizations of any size.
Scott Searle
Softball Canada Coaching Committee Member
We’ve evaluated approximately 1200 players this season. Data entry usually took us eight hours a day, for fifteen consecutive days. With the volume of athletes that we need to process in one event, SkillShark has probably saved me about 120 hours overall.
Jordan Draeger
Owner & Operator — Going Yard Baseball
FAQ — Tips for Running Baseball Tryouts
How far in advance should coaches prepare for baseball tryouts?
Coaches should prepare for baseball tryouts as far out as one month in advance. This provides sufficient time to secure a tryout date and inform athletes.
What are some basic tips for ensure baseball tryouts run smoothly?
1. Select a mix of baseball tryout drills
2. Choose unbiased evaluators
3. Debrief evaluators
4. Plan drill stations
5. Explain drills
6. Score players
7. Make timely drafting decisions
8. Provide athlete feedback
How should baseball drills be selected for tryouts?
Make a list of baseball skills that are most important to measure. I.e., Hitting, fielding, pitching, and base running.
Choose 3-4 drills under each skill. For example, when measuring pitching ability, a few baseball drills would be the three-minute drill, T-alignment drill, and the push-off drill.
When should team placement decisions be made after baseball tryouts?
Players want to hear back within a reasonable time frame regarding their team selection process and what position they made. As a general rule of thumb, post results within 48-72 hours after the tryout.
Although sticking to a timeline is important, ensure you have taken the time to thoroughly review athlete scores (i.e., rank and compare players) and debrief with other evaluators.
How does a baseball evaluation app help make tryouts run smoother?
SkillShark offers a streamlined solution to save coaches countless hours typically spent on data entry and report creation.
This baseball evaluation app serves as an all-in-one tool for scoring players, generating insightful reports, drafting teams, providing athlete feedback, and more.
Danielle Stringer
Danielle is a dynamic content marketer with a unique blend of creativity and analytical expertise. She is driven by her passion for helping companies scale through lead generation, always finding distinctive ways to connect with her audience. Drawing from her extensive background in B2B SaaS, she is thrilled to apply her skills and knowledge in her current role at SkillShark Software Inc.